


It's All Steam and Mirrors

by scatter



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Community: badbadbathhouse, Dubious Consent, Exhibitionism, M/M, Self-cest, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-10
Updated: 2011-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-17 20:31:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/180910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatter/pseuds/scatter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting separated from everyone in the bathhouse, Souji finds Yosuke with his Shadow and stays to watch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's All Steam and Mirrors

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the Persona 4 Kink Meme: _Shadow!Yosuke/Yosuke, bonus points if Souji's watching._

You keep jumping at nothing, Yosuke. _Chie smiling, Chie poking fun at Yosuke for all the little comments he'd made about her and Yukiko_. Worried Kanji's Shadow is going to come and get you?

Hey, that's not funny! _Yosuke, with his damp jacket clinging to his back, and his face red from heat and embarrassment and anger, and Yukiko had...Yukiko'd said_ Now, Chie, let's not make fun of him, _but she'd been smiling, she'd been enjoying the joke, and Yosuke had turned to him and_ At least you're not laughing, partner, _and a roar worse than anything he'd ever heard had cut him off_ —

No.

_and one of the girls had screamed and Yosuke had pushed him back_

No, he had to focus.

Souji stumbled to a halt and shook his head, one hand on the wall for support and the other tight around the hilt of his sword. The world spun, his stomach lurched, and bloody strands of hair shifted to stick to the lenses of his glasses, but his mind cleared some, enough for him to start thinking again. He forced himself to loosen the grip on his sword, to relax. How they got here wasn't important, they just had to get out of it, had to regroup and—

"Yukiko!"

He turned, almost falling in his haste, but there was nothing but fog and steam – he rubbed at his glasses, smearing moisture and making the problem worse, feeling cracked glass shift under his touch – no sign of where the thin cry had come from. He recognized Chie's voice, though.

Where was everyone? None of the floors were this big, it didn't make sense, but the hallways kept going and going and he wasn't making any kind of progress. Was he going in circles?

"Chie? Chie!"

From...his left? But there were no openings that way. Maybe further up ahead or maybe...had there been any opening behind him? He couldn't remember but he thought he'd been going as straight as possible.

Best to—best to turn around and retrace his steps. Yes. He nodded, a leader letting his absent companions know of his plans. That sounded worth doing; it might get him closer to someone, keep him from losing himself too much.

The Shadows had roared out of the corridor with no warning and only luck and the Shadows' own clumsiness had kept everyone from serious injury, though blood dripped from a wound on his head and his glasses were barely hanging on. Chie and Yukiko had gone one way, he and Yosuke another, and although they'd never been separated like this they'd planned in advance to get back to the stairs if possible. Failing that, they were supposed to stay in one spot and work through Teddie to find each other.

But he wasn't sure where the stairs were now and he hadn't seen a glimpse of everyone else, which—that didn't make sense, the floor wasn't this big, why did it keep going on? What if the others had panicked and forgotten what to do or one of them had thought to go back, to try and reach the changing room entrance on their own? How many floors was that? Four? Five? He couldn't concentrate enough to remember.

The fog thickened. He could barely see his feet as he walked, the tip of each shoe disappearing with every stride. For all he knew there was a Shadow lying in wait and he was going to walk right into it, and that was another thing: where were all the Shadows? Not a whisper of one since the run-in and the lack of them was all the more disturbing.

"Yukiko, please answer me!"

Chie sounded near tears. He needed to regain his bearings. If only he'd thought to give everyone a Goho-M, but they were all with him, weighing down his pocket. If he used one and went back to the entrance would that help his search or leave him alone to make the trip back and collect everyone?

And where was Yosuke?

They'd been together, nearly tripping over their own feet in their haste to get away, and the fog had crawled between them. It had only taken Souji a few seconds to hear Yosuke's shout and turn around, to lunge forward and try to grab him, but he'd been met with nothing with air and when the fog thinned again, the steam almost as thick in its place, Yosuke was gone.

Chie and Yukiko were yelling. They might have been scared and worried, but that meant they were alive. Yosuke—not a word from Yosuke, and that meant... Nothing, it didn't mean anything; Souji wasn't yelling either but he was fine.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and it felt like the fog was trying to climb into his lungs. His head buzzed, Teddie's voice long reduced to static, and warm blood trailed under his collar like fingers.

"Ah!"

He lurched forward, around a corner, towards the voice. Not a whisper, not a thin cry, but close, close enough to find if he was just fast enough. He slammed a shoulder against a door, threw it open, and was met with a blast of heat and wall of fog so thick he felt blind.

He opened his mouth to call out. The fog rolled in, choked him, shut him up.

From somewhere on the edge of hearing: "Yukiko, are you—"

And closer, a laugh that made his skin crawl. "Haha, come on, just admit it."

"Fuck, _ah_!" Yosuke in pain and a noise like—something too needy to be pain. "Fuck you!"

Souji clung to the door. It felt like he'd overbalance if he tried to step forward. His clothes stuck to him, sweat dripping down his neck. The room was, ha, the room was like a sauna. He needed to take off his clothes and find a towel.

The fog rolled – he could feel it inside of him, he felt sick, they had to get out of here, it was too much – rolled and cleared a little, let him see the center of the small room, let him see—

Yosuke, on his knees, arms behind his back, and face down, and Yosuke grinning over his shoulder with a hand in his hair, both of them moving and panting, making thick, obscene noises that sounded like out of sync echoes.

Souji wavered on his feet, unable to make sense of the scene before him. The tip of his sword touched the ground. He almost dropped it completely.

"That bastard Kanji, huh?" The one in the back, the one moving harder—thrusting, not just moving, he was—he showed his teeth to Souji and put his mouth next to Yosuke's ear. "Putting these damn thoughts back in our head. We thought we'd figured everything out, thought—"

"Shut—" Yosuke gasped. "Shut the hell up."

"And then he came and Kanji got put in and now we're here and, dammit, just say you want this."

"I don't—"

"Tell it to him." He wrenched Yosuke's head back, made him look up. "Look who's here."

Yosuke squinted, fog and steam hampering his vision. He'd lost his glasses somewhere and his headphones were crooked.

His pants were around his thighs and his cock was hard. Souji stared.

The other Yosuke stopped holding his arms, wrapped a hand around that cock, and asked, "Aren't you going to greet our partner?"

"Fuck you!" Yosuke fought but his arms were wrapped in his sleeves and the grip on his hair too restraining. "Don't bring Souji into this!"

"Say something, partner, let him now you're here."

Yosuke couldn't see him without his glasses. He should leave. Yes, get out of here, let this—let Yosuke believe he hadn't seen this and maybe find one of the girls or just wait until it was over. Because they were friends, he would give this lie to Yosuke.

Instead he said, "I'm watching."

Yosuke froze. "No. No, no, you can't be here—"

"That's right," the Shadow—Yosuke's Shadow—purred. "Keep watching, don't look away."

Yosuke begged him to. "Partner, if you care about me at all—" Yosuke begged him, but he rocked back against his Shadow and moaned, thrust into the fist around his cock and bit out Souji's name, stared blindly at the spot Souji stood, eyes wide and straining to see him.

Souji dropped his sword, took a half-step forward. His head pounded and he felt dizzy.

"Come closer." The Shadow licked Yosuke's neck, arched his back like cat. "You have to see this, you have to be close. Don't stop watching me."

Somewhere, Chie yelled for Yukiko to stop but it dissolved into static.

Closer, Souji could see how Yosuke shook, could make out the flush on his face and could stare at the way his neck was exposed. The Shadow kissed Yosuke, and Yosuke groaned, spread his legs wider and sucked on his Shadow's tongue. Both of them watched Souji and Souji—all the blood was leaving him, rushing south, and he was getting dizzy, the fog was creeping into the room—

"Not yet," the Shadow said, "not yet, _watch, dammit_."

—and Yosuke shuddered and came in white streams and the Shadow forced his head down and went to his knees to pound into him and Souji took a step back, tripped, and fell. He gasped, the fog rolled into his mouth, and Yosuke was saying something and Kanji was laughing and Yukiko was chirping _Chie, Chie_ like a bird and—

"Hey." Something touched his face, warmth against warm skin. He was too hot; all the water was leaving him as sweat and his mouth was dry. "Hey, partner, wake up."

"Maybe..." Yukiko coughed. "Maybe if we just use the item—"

"Have we used it when someone's unconscious? I don't want to try." A tap against his face. "Wake up."

Souji opened his eyes. His vision was awful; no glasses. Yosuke leaned over him, close enough that he could make out his features, his carefully blank expression. His hair was a mess and his clothes ruffled.

Souji's pants were wet, damp with sweat and steam, but one part was wet with something else. _Don't stop watching me_. His hands clenched around nothing.

"You okay?"

"Head hurts." He pressed his fingers to his hair and pulled them away sticky.

"Yukiko got the worse of it, that's just from before." Yosuke gestured to the door, closed now. Chie and Yukiko stood next to it, Yukiko's hand clutching Chie's jacket.

"What happened?"

Yosuke helped him stand and gave him back his sword. "You fainted. Just passed the hell out. I think it was the fog; your glasses are trashed."

"Yukiko and I managed to find you guys a little while ago." The group came together in huddle. Part of Souji wanted to shy back but the bigger part took comfort in the closeness, in Yosuke's hand on his back and the subtle, determined set to Yukiko's face. She had a tear on her sweater, he could see now, and Chie's hair was mussed, a few scratches on her cheek. "After we got separated we just kept wandering, the layout didn't make any sense—"

"The hall kept stretching," Souji said, and she nodded, mouth tight.

"Can we leave?" Yukiko asked, voice thin.

Souji produced a Goho-M and, after a moment, gave one to everyone else. "Just in case," he said.

Yukiko took care of the rest of their injuries when they were back near the pile of TVs, and Teddie watched them with worried eyes, not believing their reassurances. She and Chie went through first, supporting each other, and Souji gestured for Yosuke to go ahead of him. Kanji's Shadow and the bathhouse were behind them, but he wanted to see everyone leave safely.

Yosuke didn't move. "Do you remember everything?"

"No, I..." His thoughts slipped away when he tried to recall what had happened before he passed out. Something about Yosuke, he thought, but he didn't know whether it had been good or not. "It's all a mess. Was it bad?"

Yosuke looked away, shrugged. "You look like crap, partner, go ahead of me."

"No, you first. I'll watch you."

Yosuke stiffened and looked at him sharply. "What?"

Souji's thought skittered; it was like trying to hold onto an eel, but the words felt familiar and Yosuke's reaction reminded him of something, though he couldn't say what. "I want to make sure you get through okay."

"Right." Yosuke nodded and readied himself, hesitated, gave him an unsteady grin. "Don't look away, all right?"

"I'm watching."

A one-sided conversation; he wanted to know what brought that look at Yosuke's face before he went through the TV.

The back of his neck prickled like someone was watching him. Maybe he'd remember once he was outside of the fog.

He hurried through and felt like he was escaping.


End file.
